Variations in Time and Space
by NabikiB
Summary: Variations, with all the branches and loops and swirls into which Time forms itself and the dimensions through which it runs, anything is possible. Most things are even probable...come with me and let's explore a bit, shall we? Some tales are rated M, some are not. Most have Rose in there somewhere, a few just have kids.
1. The Fixed Point of No Return

**A/N:**

**Have I mentioned lately that I love to rattle the Doctor's cage? **

**Consider it mentioned.**

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><p><em><strong>Variations in Time<strong>_

_**01**_

_ **The Fixed Point of No Return**_

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><p>He stared at the readings on the now repaired scanner display, understanding once and forevermore, exactly why Rose had left the future self on his other timeline. Pregnant. With his child...or rather, <em>children<em>. He traced the outline of a pair of fetuses that the scan showed, a soft smile on his face. The rest of the scan results under his eyes explained the shift several days ago when his timeline had split. She'd been feeling a bit ill, with what he now understood was, for humans, routine morning sickness, and he'd run a few diagnostic scans. The results had been, over all, quite fascinating. The Timeship's reaction had been even moreso. For instance, the instant the TARDIS had seen _this _one, she'd split him down the middle, then and there...and took this one, with Rose on board, in a new and entirely different direction. In the other Rose would be returned to the future self, he supposed. But in this one, he was going to be a father again...only this time, he'd get to raise his children _himself_.

The looming sense of disaster was gone, too and the new timeline felt _odd_, frankly. He rather suspected the TARDIS had him using Rose's since that would have allowed him to _skip _said looming disaster altogether. He was pretty sure the young blonde had been riding...she never said 'traveling', just that she rode with him, but not, as she put it, for two full calendar years...an older self. He'd apparently done or said something that had hurt her tremendously and made him run away from _him_.

Without bothering to go back to Earth before disembarking from the TARDIS, which _was _frankly disturbing.

He walked into the library where she was trying to ignore her upset stomach to read, with a dose of something safe for both their species which would reduce or possibly stop the effects of the morning illness...a misnomer that, for the day. She would have to take it every day, though as it included the nutrients needed for the infants she carried. The biggest difference between herself and a woman of his people, though, was that her body was designed _perfectly _for carrying developing young. Gallifreyans might have vast superiority in some aspects of their physical beings, but where successfully carrying healthy children to term, from conception to delivery, was concerned, healthy human females had few equals and no superiors in the universe. And Rose was most _certainly _healthy.

He also began insisting she could repeat, accurately, his name. He also admonished her to never say it around other people unless the only other person was one or more of _his _selves. She had thought that odd until they ran into First a few weeks later and the older looking, younger version said something rude.

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><p>She had gotten right in First's face, one protective hand over her belly, the other one with her index finger extended and being shaken under his nose...and called him by his name in an offended, half snarled tone and then began to scold. Shock covered the First's face, Eight had covered his reddening face with one hand as he found his first body being chewed on in some of the worst terms in the universe...by a young lady First had no choice but to acknowledge as his <em>wife<em>.

Rose cussed First out good an proper, then finally both her hands came to rest on her widening hips and she barked, "Do you understand me, Doctor?"

"Yes...quite." He was still stunned, but the earlier motion of her hand to her belly had drawn his eyes. Once he really looked, the slight swell of an expanding womb was obvious.

"You got her pregnant?"

"No...an older form did. She just decided this one would make a better father...I did something apparently, to make her disembark while not on Earth...at top speed. She won't tell me when or who and if I've broken the promise enough to be cruel to the mother of my children, that me shouldn't be around the kids anyway." Eight paused to run a calming hand down Rose's back. "I decided she wasn't going to be raising them by herself and that I should bind my life to her's. The TARDIS insisted, actually. Diverted my timeline to ensure it."

"She split us?"

"Yes, right down the middle: One went on as I had been, returned her to my future self and this one...that being the case, I wed her."

"Wait...wed?" Rose interjected in shock.

"And didn't explain, apparently." First snorted, taking the girl by the hand and off to one side to do just that.

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><p>After a bit she grinned down at him and smiled. "So, you're telling me that so long as I'm present with <em>one <em>of you, all of you can safely be present _too_...cuz we're married, the lot of you and me?"

"Yes, that's it precisely."

"You _do _realize that you've _effectively _given me a harem...even if all the men in it _are _just you?" The more she thought about it, the more _ideas _she got...and it showed on her face. Then, ignoring First's growing unease, took his head in her hands and kissed him right on the top of his head. "I _like _it."

First spluttered in shock, but behind her, Eight had begun to laugh.

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><p><em><strong>~ Finis ~<strong>_


	2. Any Him Will Do

Summary: The more I think about Dimension hopper Rose, the more convinced I am that either one of the youngsters would have noticed and interfered or she'd tell the first one she saw about the stars going out. It wasn't something she'd have to cross her own timestream for, if she found an earlier Doctor. Some of the conversations would certainly be fun, though.

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><p><strong>Variations in Time and Space<strong>

_**Any Him Will Do**_

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><p>"Rose, are you sure it's him?" Mickey panted, trying to keep up with the racing blonde as she chased after a blonde bloke in a cricket uniform, calling <em><strong>'DOCTOR!'<strong>_ at the top of her lungs. The unfamiliar man was just turning around to see who was calling him.

"Yeah, just not one I've met...it doesn't matter, he's still him, just _way _younger and if I can get out of having to cross my own timestream to find the Doctor and tell him about the stars disappearing here, I'll take a baby-Doctor, _quick-smart_. Cuz he can still do something about it, yeah?"

"If you've never met this one," Mickey sounded dubious, "Then how do you know..."

"Nevermind. Oh, good, he _heard _me..." She poured on more speed.

Mickey stared and then stumbled to a stop, bent nearly double trying to breathe. _"Sheesh." _

_**"Lightweight!"**_ She called back at him.

_"OI!"_

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><p>The Fifth Doctor heard someone, a <em>female <em>someone, calling his name from behind him and she was getting close pretty fast. He turned to see one of the fastest runners he'd ever seen, bar himself. She was slowing, relief written clearly in every line of her. Questions could come later, though, because she was already explaining what was going on.

Whole star systems with exploding stars, winking out of existence without explanation, just didn't make sense. Neither did a girl he'd never met before taking one look at him and know who he was...and then laying the whole thing in his lap. Sort of, what she actually did was to pull a thick file from a tiny purse that it shouldn't have fit into to start with and hand it to him.

As he rapidly flipped through the reports she gave him, she was doing cool down exercises he _recognized_. He should, after all, they were the exact same ones he had taught to his recently departed companions. "You _know _me."

"Gallery wall, yeah." She nodded. "But I had two choices, I could either flag down the first you I saw, or I do something I don't really want to do."

"Which is?"

"We have the tech to allow me to cross the void without a capsule and from there, cross my own time-stream in order to find the current you. I prefer not to shame you with the second one."

There was a look in her eyes that spoke volumes. "You're not here willingly, are you?"

_"Not by a long shot, __**no**__."_

"Well," He held out his hand and as Mickey watched from a distance in disgust, she took it and let him lead her off..._again_. A few moments later he heard the TARDIS leave and not long after that, the stars stopped going out...which was good. But nobody here ever saw Rose again.

"Where do you belong?'

"Here...except with Tenth. Or Eleven, if you're in that body by now. I thought I'd just ask the TARDIS to find the right one and make him come fetch me from her. Later. Right now, I just want to recharge and be near you. Feels _so _good.

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><p>The Fifth Doctor was a bit bemused as he studied the best situation he could have reasonably hoped for. Rose had a tremendous 'gift' for the situations they'd found themselves in. They were definitely in the power seat, whereas, he thought, that if he'd allowed Peri on board, as he had intended to go back for her before Rose had flagged him down, both of them would have likely been poisoned. She hadn't said a word, really...earlier when she'd asked for an immunity vaccine that covered a set variety of poisons that each world they landed on was able to produce. It was routine for them after twenty such adventures, to take that precaution. This venture, it had paid off big time. She'd just cast him a knowing look when the adventure ended and they had re-boarded the TARDIS.<p>

After a moment's thought, he understood. He would have regenerated, had Peri been aboard. Both of them would have been poisoned, but there was only enough antidote for one of them. He would have given it to Peri...he _knew_ that.

"Rose..."

"Don't say it. I won't apologize for meddling since I _did _check with my sister first. _You regenerating at this time wasn't fixed_...and that's the same as permission to meddle."

That made him pause and then sigh. "Okay. Not fixed, then I don't have a leg to stand on really." He was checking to make sure that Rose had checked with his TARDIS first and got a confirmation_ so he let it go_.

"Of the pair of you, she's the higher authority...and I know you. No point in checking with you since telling you anything _would _be against the rules. But, the TARDIS already knows..."

"True. Very true. You _coddle _me."

_"And?"_ She cocked her head. "You just got solid proof I can have that kind of knowledge of events, use it properly...and obey the TARDIS. I might or might not obey you, but my sister I do, since _she _at least, knows what she's doing."

"OI!"

"Oh come off it, Doctor. You're guessing at things at least a full third of the time. Grayed out timelines don't help you much."

"Okay, I'll give you that one." He was quiet for a bit. "Why this me?"

"Something Ninth you told me about this you and the you on my proper timeline crashing my sister into herself in the vortex. I asked about that, remember? So, I can enjoy this you until then and then just stay with him. And ask _this _you to take Martha. There's, um, a lot of things I can't tell you, but I think this you is a much better you for Martha. Tenth is not in a good place in your hearts and soul just now. And you're not treating Martha very well, in that body. She _needs _a younger one, preferably this you. And you, in that Body, needs someone who knows what's going on cuz there's a ton of things that you just don't discuss but which still need to be supported."

He listened to the TARDIS and finally nodded. "Okay. So, when that event occurs..."

"At that point, the future from that incident onward, gets a small TARDIS guided edit. You also receive a small one, _don't _fetch Peri. Martha is capable, strong and a medical student. Further her education if you can, she's only due back for graduation at this point. Also, get her a job at UNIT when the time to part comes: _They _won't mind if you're the one that made sure she was properly taught and it won't bother _them _if she does things no other medical doctor would do in that time. She'll also stay with this you, if you let her, for years...she already knows what regeneration is and will roll with it. This is a good thing, but not becoming Sixth unless either she or I are on board is vital."

"Because?"

"Your choice in that body's Signature Outfit is something that will become an _embarrassment _to every body after Six and to every body before him that sees it. Peri would have had an unfortunately honest response...brutally honest, actually." She grinned and stopped right there, both of them feeling the ship pulse in a 'That's enough' sort of way so she said nothing more about it: But that smile she was aiming at him was very close to 'diabolical' or, perhaps, _'fiendish'._ "This time it's not something you really _want _to know. Older yous spend a good portion of their time trying to forget it..._uselessly_, mind, but still trying."

He let out a long suffering sigh and let it go.

"I wouldn't worry about it, after all, once you have it _on_, you won't mind a bit until you're Seven anyway."

"Good point." He gave her a small smile.

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><p>The Fifth found, eventually, that Rose had been very much correct about Martha. They were a good <em>fit<em>, a good partnership and he enjoyed teaching her future techniques and how to manufacture certain medicines that UNIT _needed _but had not had access to since his Third body. Of course, watching the absolute and utter joy Tenth experienced as he lifted Rose and spun her in the air, round and round had been telling. Martha hadn't minded much when Rose suggested she'd have a better experience with Fifth than she'd had with Tenth.

Rose and the older Doctor had separated from Five and Martha when they'd got the TARDIS' untangled and later, when he _did _regenerate, he discovered that Martha, who had _also _seen the same pictures that Rose had mentioned, had located the Suit long before _he _clapped eyes on it...and had arranged to dye it a nice sober _black_. He'd never found it. Just having Martha there _instead _of Peri had rewritten that bit. Instead, Sixth used what would have been his second outfit Choice, the one in many tones of TARDIS Blue .

The Tenth and Rose were, on Rose's insistence, staring at the Sixth's image in the gallery when that happened and witnessed Martha dying it black and Sixth's futile search later. "Thank you. Should've known Martha would circumvent that clown-suit _before _he saw it." Ten grinned, hugging his Rose hard.

"In case your memories haven't all caught up yet, four hundred and three adventures were handled by Five instead of Six and Seven. Ace was with Five instead of Seven...still did what needed doing but we stayed with her instead of dropping her in the middle of a Dalek war and leaving. I think you need some quite time to catch up to the edits."

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><p>"The war doctor changed a lot too." He told her softly, later. A new-old voice startled her out of her doze, looking up to see her Navy Doctor. "Double set of memories, this body has now, Rose Tyler. Seven fought in the war, not Eight or Nine. Lots older, this me, this time. Seven handled it <em>without <em>destroying Gallifrey. I didn't wipe out my own species this time, thanks to a minor edit made on my past by someone who _loves _me. Tis not my time yet, Rose Tyler. You'll have to wait."

"Yeah." She nodded. "I do love you and so does the TARDIS. My timeline is a little odd, due to stuff...I get a redo, but you're happier than you were and that's what I wanted. I'll be here though, not aging, yeah? So...who's current?"

"I am." Eight said her from behind her as the desktop began to change.

_"Oooh, the eye-candy one!"_ She blurted, once she'd gotten a hug from her first Doctor, he'd faded into the Futureverse and she turned to get a really good look at Eight.

He stared at her and finally gave the only response he could to the best answer he'd gotten yet...the Eighth Doctor started laughing as he watched Rose do her version of a 'Snoopy Happy Dance' around the console.

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><p><em><strong>~ Finis ~<strong>_


	3. Interludes

Summary - The day that Rose walked back into the Doctor's life for the fourth time he didn't even know it. Fortunate that _one _of them knew who the other one was, then, wasn't it? 12th Doctor/Rose

A/N: Nope, no warnings except the rating.

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><p><strong>Variations in Time and Space <strong>

_**Interludes of Reintroduction**_

(Also could be called 'pop' goes the Doctor)

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><p>Rose couldn't believe her luck, but she also wasn't going to quibble about it...<em>or turn him down.<em> He was sad-eyed and didn't introduce himself, nor did she, thinking it unneeded despite her disguise. She felt his familiar touch, touching her in a unfamiliar ways, apparently very much wanting to 'dance' with her, finally, after bringing her home to TARDIS where she belonged.

For the Doctor's part, he startled a bit at the ship's approval of this one, the lighting in the console room flickering a welcome to the woman in the bad wig and worse makeup. Later, he'd realize all the clues _had _been there. She'd not commented on the inside,_ at all_, had she? The woman, in wordless reply to the welcome, had simply hugged and petted a strut.

Maybe the woman was a nutter? But then, he chose women that he deemed utterly unworthy of the TARDIS to come aboard these days, because he felt unworthy to be there, too...having lost his Ponds...after having given away his most precious thing, his Rose. This was the only time he left his cloud, these days. About once a month or so. Because he did _need _human interaction, really.

He stripped down first, smiling a bit shyly at the appreciative grin under the more-orange-than-red lipstick. The fourth big warning the Doctor ignored was when she skipped the earth tissue and snatched one from 66 centuries in the future, taking her make up off with a single swipe on each side of the tissue as he switched off the light. Under the coveralls, it turned out, not only was the human female utterly naked, but his hands told him that she was also drop dead gorgeous. That fact nearly made him stop...but she wasn't having any of _that_, pushing him off balance a bit, just enough to tumble him onto his bed.

It was when she slid down his body and took him in her mouth that things started to get a little strange. He _had _deemed this to be the first time he got physical...intending to _service _this unworthy woman to punish himself. It was the smell of a vapor that increased his need that started to make the Doctor nervous being pumped into his room by his giggling ship: As usual, he stubbornly refused to allow it to stop him...or even slow him down. He'd finally shrugged. At least she and the TARDIS liked each other, if the TARDIS approved of what he was going to do for and with the woman. He never really got the chance, though the by the time he understood the last big clue she had already taken control of the situation...and of him...like an old hand.

_Or _an experienced companion and that's when he started to get suspicious. He couldn't drag himself out of wanting to continue though, the TARDIS generated _fumes ensured it_...

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><p>Forgetting she was wearing a wig, in his enjoyment of what she was doing when she engulfed his penis and swallowed it to the root, he tried to tangle his fingers in her hair and it came away in his hands. He tossed it aside and tried again, this time finding full, thick hair and feeling her arms encircle his thighs as anchor, then begin to lap delicately at his balls for a moment before sucking one into her hot mouth. His brain fizzled and seemed to short out for a bit and when he got 'functions' back online, the room was dimly lit, his body let him know he'd already ejaculated, his cock was buried between the woman's thighs and Rose Tyler, grinning down at him rather fiendishly, her tongue firmly caught between her teeth, deliberately clenched herself around him.<p>

That was it, she had left a smear of the rather gross lipstick at the corner of her mouth which he noticed as his hands came up to grasp her hips, feeling her body rise only to sink down on his rod again, "Mine. My Doctor, _my Doctor_..." She moaned his name on a breath of sound and he, taking a firm if careful grip on her, flipped her to her back, she wrapped those legs of her's around his back and pulled him into her as deep as he could go, until pelvis met pelvis, grinding herself upward, rubbing against him. Her arms were around his neck by this point and she nipped at his mouth until he tried to speak...then slipped her tongue inside. She pushed her center at him and felt his hips buck once, twice and then finally withdraw to fully thrust into her. Her outcry of joy nearly deafened him.

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><p>She was <em>Rose<em>, most definitely, felt her welcome, witnessed both the love she bore for him and the need she had, her satisfaction that he had finally become her lover as well as her Great Love, he smelled her arousal, tasted her mouth and then her tongue was exploring his own and he lost any chance he might have had to resist. His hips began to move, feeling her meeting every thrust.

"_Mine_, she told him. My Doctor, _my Doctor_."

He shuddered, feeling her voice caress his use-name, gathered her tenderly to himself, surging forward and inward, again and again. "Your's, my Rose, my precious girl...your Doctor." Because once she'd understood regeneration, she had never hesitated to accept and love every man she knew him to be. She did shift herself a bit, lifting a breast in each hand, offering them to him like ripe fruit and when he accepted them, supporting their soft, firm weight in his own hands and as his mouth closed over a nipple to suckle, she merely pulled his head down further.

Finally, though, he raised his tear covered face and caught her head in his hands and slanted his mouth over her's, her hands all over him, seeking to draw him nearer than was even possible. He didn't deny her again, nor did he slow, not with her hands urging his need and her body making her own quite clear.

It didn't last, it _couldn't _last...not with the Doctor moving so powerfully within the circle of her ankle-locked legs and her own body arching toward him as she met his thrusts. Not when she held him so tightly then reached down to grasp his bum and pull him closer, not when she begged him to love her, _really _love her...and his hearts broke because he understood.

"I do, Rose Tyler, I do love you. And I always shall." He told her as they crested together, crying out, calling each other as a new kind of storm, the _good _kind, broke over them both.

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><p><em><strong>~ Finis ~<strong>_


	4. A Cure For a Derpy Doctor

A/N: Some characters may have mis-spelled names. If so, PM me and I'll correct it.

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><p><em><strong>Cure For a Derpy Doctor<strong>_

She watched him, for a time, long enough to realize two things. She was in the right timeline...the one where both he and she were right where they _should _be on both their timelines...and that he was alone. That was not a good thing, she knew, so she did the only thing she could do...since he was ignoring people. She 'tripped' and tripped _him _in the process of trying to not actually fall on him, sending him sprawling on the muddy sidewalk. His wide, startled eyes met Rose Tyler's gaze as he reached out to catch her and she smiled at him as she stepped in closer.

"I called you twice and I _know _you heard me." She told him, as she gave him a hand up. "Your own fault I tripped ya."

_"Rose..."_ He breathed. "How...?"

"Different species doing your job. They kept him, put him to work and sent me home."

"He _let _them?"

"Yeah, well...he married that universe's Sarah Jane. It didn't really take all that long before we realized he had enough Donna in him that...he was feminine, that is, he's got both sets of plumbing. And that universe's Sarah Jane is bi with a strong leaning toward lesbian, so..._yeah_. The Biydh, well, they, uh, figured a way out for me to surf the Rift and get home _safely _and it took him and one of the Biydh to locate one your younger forms...and well, _explain_, well you, uh, just dropped me off here and now." She still had his fingers in her hand, was holding on tightly, so very _tightly_.

He didn't mind: Not in the least, not in the _tiniest _part did he mind. He _did_ shift his grip so their fingers interlaced and when he did she stepped even closer, startling Vestra and Jenny as the Doctor not only allowed the closeness, but reached around Rose with his free hand and drew her closer still. Her head came to rest between his hearts and her own free hand ran around his waist, so close they were nearly in the same skin.

He looked over Rose's head to the shocked eyes of his friends. "This is Rose Tyler. She keeps doing things she shouldn't be _capable _of, but she does them all the same." He kissed the top of her head and then laid his cheek there. "And she's _mine_. She said so, _centuries_ ago...and then I did something really _stupid _and she wasn't here, in this universe, after that for a long time. I'm _not _letting go again. I can't. I won't." He loosed his hand from her's then and put it around her as well, her freed hand went to his back under his jacket and started rubbing circles and stroking him into calm. It took a while, but he did calm down as he dragged her to the ladder.

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><p>"<em>No<em>. I know full well you have a setting to _call_ her and I also know she doesn't need any help from you to pull the wardrobe room ladder up. and if you don't call her, I _will_...cuz I'm _not _climbing that thing." She told him bluntly, slipping one arm under his frock coat and around his waist. "And you know that I _can_."

"True." He quirked a smile at her upturned face, and simply did as he was told. Amy had gotten him rather used to that, actually. But Rose pretty well treated all his bodies, with allowances for his quirks in each, the same. Besides, he _knew _that tone.

She turned her eyes to his friends. "What's he been doing that's got him nervous about me finding out? You may as well tell me, because I promise you that the TARDIS _will _tell on him the first chance she gets. That's the easiest way to make him behave, you know...tell her, she'll tell me, and then she and I will _fix _him."

"Rose...did you have to _tell _them that?" The whinge made the fem couple smile and start taking turns telling Rose exactly what they knew. Which was quite a lot, actually.

She sighed. "Burn out." She told them, recognizing the symptoms. "Okay, I'll get him _sorted_. You go get Miss Clara and her charges and their father and bring them to the TARDIS. I want them in protective custody while we figure this out. No place safer than behind her shields so I want you three to move in here too. I'll give Doctor lessons...Care, Feeding and Handling, 101." She shot a glance at his reddening face. "Possibly 201 as well." She added as the ship materialized around the pair of them. "His clone did give me one thing I will treasure forever...not aging, me, see? So he knew it was safe to tell me since he was pretty sure this old goat should and wouldn't."

"Old Goat!?" He complained as she pulled his head down so she could whisper something in his ear.

His name.

"WHAT!?" His tone was filled with shock.

"Consider it done by proxy...you're _mine_." She told him firmly. "Always have been, but this time you have no more excuses."

He paused, thought about it, groaned and finally just nodded. "Proxies are legal, proxies that are also you, or rather, _**me**_...yeah. I've always been your's...and my metacrisis made sure there'd be no balking...it's a done deal. But you're mine too, so it works."

"Have been since 'run'." She told him softly. "And the only person who had to actually be _told _that, is _you_."

_"Oh, Rose..."_

"Which by definition makes you somewhat dumber than a human...at least in practice."

**_"ROSE!"_**

**_*WHO*_**

Vestra and Jenny grinned heartlessly as the plaint faded behind the ship's hull.

"Old goat?" Jenny snickered. "Dumber than a human? Seems she has him well in hand."

"Oh yes, I have heard many things about Miss Rose Tyler. _Three _of his regenerations she has known and committed to him from within the first few weeks of knowing him. She accepts him as he is...just as she accepted me as I am. She is an _experienced _traveler, after all. She ignores differences like species and just gets to know people. Let's do as she asked and then we shall watch her housebreak him. It should be highly entertaining."

* * *

><p>She waited until he finished putting them back on the cloud, though he kept the ladder <em>in<em> the ship this time...no need to confuse the children or their father though _Clara_ seemed to take it in stride.

"Now, this is how we're going to do this, I've got experience that Clara lacks and you've kids on the TARDIS. I know what's going on, Clara...very much so, and thank you. But I think you need to sit this one out, take care of your charges also, since kids that age loose in here..." Rose shuddered as Clara laughed.

"I didn't think any one else _knew_."

"Well, Time speaks to me, _sometimes_."

She just nodded, grinning at a very confused Doctor. "You haven't met me properly yet. That is still to come...though with an _edit_, I think."

"Oh yes," Rose nodded decisively. "It took longer than you can imagine, most of you but I finally got this great lug to marry me. No idea why, everyone realizes pretty fast that while sweet natured and unusually adorable, the Doctor _needs_ a keeper."

"Oi!" He protested.

"_Tell_ him, Clara...he can lock the information up when this adventure is done. But this one is the last one until he was to have picked you up anyway, though for him, it hasn't started yet and you're the wrong you. So, we get this sorted, you'll stay with your charges and we'll see you in your reincarnated form in the future. I know you think they'll be a next time, but there isn't, since this is the last one. Next one you start your real life...okay? So, tell him."

"Rose?" The Doctor's unease was clear.

"She's in her own present but she came from _your _future, this version. You won't meet her until she's actually in her first life though at this point she's lived thousands of lives...for one purpose." Rose told him gently. "That's what she needs to tell you, the details, I mean. They are fixed at this point and you'll be coming to fetch her soon, this you _but a few years down the line from now_, mind...so the now-you need to know what's going on in the now so you don't meet yourself coming. She's throwing your time-sense out of whack and so she needs to let you know, _just for a few days_, what's going on."

"Ah!" Now he nodded, beginning to understand.

Clara nodded, then moved off several paces and waited for the Doctor to join her just out of earshot of the children and their father. Things were about to get very, very complicated...no need for normal people to get that confused though Rose didn't seem worried about it...she'd explained what she had rather openly.

Rose watched her husband growing more and more restless and upset..._not that having a menace enter his post death timestreams to ruin his life followed by a human companion entering to put it to rights was anything to get upset about,_ she thought with rueful sarcasm. And at the end of the explanation, he enfolded the girl in a tight hug.

* * *

><p>"She's my adopted sister...she has saved my husband's life few times." Rose told the children when the questions started. "Since she has no family, it was the least I could do."<p>

"Sounds like it." Their father replied quietly. "This is all very strange."

"Well, now you know for sure, there are people in the universe that aren't human but they're still people. Like Vestra and Straxx. Very nice people actually. You've just got to get past appearances and get to know the soul instead. In fact, I'm quite sure that Madam knows some perfectly wonderful stories children...and I think if you're polite and willing to learn what she can teach you about acceptance and people, if you ask her..."

Both youngsters bolted for the lizard lady, the boy because he liked lizards and toads, the girl because she thought Vestra was beautiful.

Jenny looked at Rose and grinned as her wife started up in 'teacher' mode at once. Two young minds that were willing to be opened to a wider universe and which were able to be taught tolerance and acceptance from these young ages were more than the dignified alien could resist. She guided the children's father to a bedroom not far from the library and admonished him that everyone ate in the main kitchen, there was no dining room and no need for one.

"It's a different sent of rules on the TARDIS, laid back and casual only. Unless the cloister bells start ringing...in that case, stay in your room and the TARDIS will keep the children in the nursery. She'll keep the lot of you fed until the emergency is over, if we should have one."

"How likely _is_ that?"

"With just the Doctor? About 35% chance something will go wrong and spoil his day. With me here the chance is closer to 70%, add in Vestra, Jenny and Straxx? J_ust about guaranteed_. Just stay in the ship and you'll be fine. The ice lady can't get past the shields." She told him when he went white as a sheet.

* * *

><p><em><strong>~*~ TBC ~*~<strong>_


	5. Oh Dear

_**05**_

_**Variations in Time and Space**_

_**Oh Dear...**_

"Commitments? From _him _? Are you nuts, Sarah Jane? That's a man that thinks the word '_commitment_' is a suggestion to do something incredibly foul..._or at least_, you'd think so from the way he responds to the notion."

He noted a woman's voice as she answered Sarah Jane's question on the far side of the room. She was right of course, though there was no way for her to know that. He was well aware of what humans meant when they spoke of being _committed_...genius, him. He was considered certifiable on enough planets already, he didn't think he needed Earth to join them.

The stranger and his companion passed behind him, still talking. "Oh, no...not that him, not even close. I've seen _that _one on the gallery wall, you know? Your version is a...well, a bit of an _infant _really. He's what? Four? Yeah, a _baby _compared to the versions I know. _He hasn't even started puberty yet._"

He stiffened, "Oh dear." He muttered under his breath.

"He's close enough to hear you."

"Yeah, I know...grand ain't it?" She laughed out loud. "He's trying to pretend he's not listening in, but he's never gotten any better at it apparently, because he's just as obvious now as he _will _be six forms from now. I have to assume it's something big enough that he keeps it in _every _body. You know, like hating pears and loving bananas."

_**"Oi!" **_Fourth protested as he turned to face the grinning young woman.

"It's okay, Doctor. I'm at a very strange point in my timeline and we _do _need to talk...I figured raising my voice just a bit so you _could _hear..."

"Ah. I see. Well, the TARDIS is this way, Miss...?"

"Rose Marion Tyler...and it's taken me a very long time to find a universe that has a 'you' in it. Can't get back to mine, so..." She sighed and he caught a whiff if saline and moisture.

"I have a feeling this is about to get incredibly _complicated_." He told her.

"No, not hardly, it passed incredibly complicated a _very _long time ago. I think you'll be forced to use your native language to find a term that fits it now...and I seriously doubt whatever you use will translate well_...if at all."_

_"That bad?"_

"Oh yes. It's okay, though. I don't mind." She placed a gentle hand on his forearm. _"You are so much more than worth it."_

* * *

><p>He was intending to settle her in the library, but the door opened on a kitchen he'd never seen before instead. Apparently, however, Rose <em>had<em>...she went straight to the cupboards and got down what was needed for a light Tea.

"Ground rules...you need to make _one _decision right now." She told him. "I'm not from your universe. You are not the same Doctor I rode with. So the question is, Does Sarah sit in on this or do you need to start a loop or whatever...how is this going to work once I start explaining?"

He smiled an apology at Sarah Jane. "I think I need to treat it confidentially for now. There's no telling what will come out once Rose starts to speak. If all goes well, she can tell you later or allow me to do so, but for this first telling, I think it needs to be just Rose and I. If all does not go well, I'm going to have to suppress or erase my memory of her later...right now, she's just a girl you met at a party and adjusting you to think you parted ways there before we came back to the ship is fairly easily done. Removing a detailed sequence which includes complex issues, is quite a bit harder."

"Harder?"

"Told'ja, he's _Four_." Rose told her. "He won't be any good at that process until he's a lot older." She shrugged. "Ten had no problems with it, neither did Eight, spent some time with that him too, yeah? But a Four..._well_...let me put it this way..._he's _barely out of nappies in Time Lord terms."

"Oi, did you _have _to tell her that bit?"

"Well, yeah, sure I did...cuz there's things she needs to understand, like that some things are pretty universal and that's one of the ones she _needs _to understand. It will make her understand that in Time Lord terms, you're not even a teenager yet...tends to shift her understanding to something a lot less uncomfortable for _you_...and her expectations _with_ it."

_"Oh."_

"Yeah, 'oh'. It's hard enough for me since I'm used to having the _adult _versions about."

"OI!"

"Ten, Eleven, Twelve...adult forms." She used a stern tone, pressing the point. "Right now, you're in the body that just barely made it out of toddler and into _child_. It's the intermediate one between toddler and teenager."

"Great, I don't even want to know how you know that. Whatever, I still say there was no need to tell on me!" He sulked.

"Next body, Five...youngest of the teenage set...his hormones come 'online' but he's shy about it and still way too emotionally immature to be at all attractive for an adult anything, human or not. Six? Sarcastic, sharp-tongued stage, dresses like a female, human, diva-wanna-be. Seven? Manipulative little shit...late teen version." She told Sarah. "I'm about to have a chat with a _prepubescent _Time Lord...are you really sure you want to be anywhere near that? Eight is the closest young adult form...and a powerful empath. Unlike Six and Seven, he won't hurt your feelings if he can help it, wearing that form."

Sarah Jane frowned at him, "So, is she correct that you're essentially still a _child_...in the eyes of your people?"

He tried to bluster and when that didn't work he looked away, nodded sharply and growled a bit at Rose. Sarah Jane simply raised an eyebrow, then looked at Rose. "I see what you mean. I'm just a glorified babysitter, aren't I?"

_**"OI!"**_

"Yep. And the TARDIS is basically standing in _loco parentis_. Anything sounds iffy? Get her permission...and make it clear you don't cooperate without it." Rose told Sarah Jane to the Doctor growing consternation, "Unlike the Doctor, _she's_ fully grown and she can use the speaker system to talk to you. See, he doesn't get that when a human speaks of commitment what's being spoken of is 'bonding'. Plus a Time Lord will bond and breed while still not anywhere near mental maturity...and his _body _is mature enough to be going on with after the first thirty years or so, after all."

* * *

><p><em>"OI!"<em> He had gone red-faced...he'd never expected a lost companion from another universe to show up and give Sarah Jane 'Doctor 101' lessons, now, had he? But she'd sorted _that _misunderstanding out, hadn't she?

"Understood...and I think Rose is correct, I'll sit this one out." She told them both, finishing her tea. "I'll wash your scarf while you're busy."

"Sarah, just because he's older by several centuries doesn't mean he's an adult...but like myself, _you are_. Use HOT water and get that thing down to a reasonable length. If he's got more than one, _wash all of them_."

"Now, just hang on!" He protested.

"Okay, I can do that. If I've got to be a sitter, I suppose that gives me all the authority I need, really."

"Yeah, and I'm sticking around. I'll handle Sixth when it comes to that." She told Sarah, with an aside of "Not aging, me." to the pink-faced Time Lord.

"Why would you think you've got _any_ right to..." He paused as Rose put her mouth very close to his left ear, moved his hair out of her way and whispered his name to him. She drew back, smiling at the expression of wide-eyed shock on his face.

_"Okay?"_

"Okay. You're my _wife_...from another universe but the name is the same. _So, you're my wife_."

"Yes. As I said, it took a while to locate a you that has the same name...had to sneak onto Gallifrey and check the loom records. But you were here, so...once I left it was easy enough to find enough trouble to suit you. And I aimed at 'mop up' so as not to distract you." She gave him a great huge smile, absolutely beaming at him. "And I haven't even started to explain, yet. But I bet you're already running out of English words to use..."

"Yes. And any other human language as well." He grumped. She refilled his teacup and her own, then started to speak as she fixed her tea. The explanation was long, complicated as hell and took nearly ten hours to finish...would've been less if not for the questions...and at the end of it he'd watched as she entered a complicated sequence into the nav-controls and then nodded for him to do the rest.

"That's a really _strange _set of directions."

"Yes, I know. Once she does it the once though, she won't need them to do it again. Like mine, this Earth has a couple of really _weird_ dimensional gateways on the surface and she needed to be told how to use them. Once she gets through one, though, the rest will 'recognize' her and open on their own when she wants to use them."

As the TARDIS landed she stepped back and away from the console with a pat, then toward the doors. "You are the only member of your species and she's the only TARDIS allowed to use them...understood?"

"Yes."

* * *

><p>Time moved strangely in this fertile place, when it moved at all. Some places, it did not and his young wife explained that <em>it wasn't supposed to<em>...and if it did, he needed to redirect the strands of _moving _time away from those areas. There was a massive tree on the valley floor, it was larger than the TARDIS would be if you could see all of her. Larger than five or six TARDIS' even.

And on each of the the huge limbs a single whole universe sat and spun, one to a branch. This place was a gateway, indeed. He absolutely didn't need any other Time Lord involved in moving between a large number of universes so long as he used the Tree...and the TARDIS was, being a small universe all by herself, given a branch of her own. Small, mobile, sentient universes needed a place to perch, the woman told him. "And because she has a branch here, every other Earth that has a World tree now has a 'her' and a 'you' and a 'me' there now. There's a sample universe...a controller, if you will, for every type of universe, somewhere on this tree...the only thing they all have in common is that each and every one has a version of Earth." Rose told him. "This place was shown to me by a very special lady back on my own Earth...and I was taught how to find the Door. This, Doctor, is what is called a World Tree. If you consider each universe on it's branches to be a single 'world', then you understand where the name comes from."

"Amazing."

"Your Eighth and Ninth forms will desperately need this place. All the forms until then, starting now, need to start placing young Time Tots in stasis here, in the places where time doesn't exist...for there will come a time when you will need both the company and the gene pool. To wake them, simply remove the stasis field and put them in another area with moving Time." Rose said nothing more, but only continued around the Tree and down a barely there path that resembled nothing so much as a goat trail.

* * *

><p>And later they sat on rocks near a waterfall and discussed more personal issues, making some plans but mostly just allowing this version of the Doctor to get used to his unexpected bride.<p>

"Just so you know, yes, I _do _want to have children with you, I _can _do so and no, looms are _not _going to be an option for you. You have until you're Eight to get used to the idea." She told him as they got up to go back to the TARDIS.

Four spluttered and coughed, turning bright red...sure, Eight was an adult form but she hadn't had to tell him all that _now_, had she?

_"Roooooose!"_ He whinged, glaring when she just chuckled at him: _**"Ew!"**_

Apparently the 'whine' **was** a really, _really_ big thing.

He whinged even louder when she pointed that out.

* * *

><p><strong>~*~TBC~*~<strong>


	6. Welcome To My Lives

**Summary: This is a _wild _chapter that belongs in two different stories at the same time...it also belongs, properly, in The House of the Doctor, but because Variations grab Moments and drag them out piecemeal for a bit of special focus, it goes here too. HOWEVER, it will only be posted in this series. The next House chapter will have the full compliment on board.**

* * *

><p><span><strong>06<strong>

**Variations in Time  
><strong>

**Introduction to The House of the Doctor**

**Welcome to My Lives  
><strong>

* * *

><p>The Elder Doctor was beginning to appreciate, though until the kids he'd have <em>never <em>imagined it, _Jackie_, of all people. She settled down once the whole thing was explained to her, though not without smacking both men on the back of their heads a few times over the course of the linear week it took them to get the dyes off the children. Their clothes were a lost cause, though. It wouldn't have been too bad if it hadn't been for those new set of memories he and Eight had gotten two days ago...and couldn't lose no matter how hard they tried to correct that particular 'edit' in their Sixth life.

After lunch, while the adults were discussing possible safe ways to remove the dyes, the kids had dumped every stitch they'd worn in their Sixth life into the wading pool. This wasn't the problem, it was the choice of location for this project that wasn't good, since the Sixth would 1. Notice and 2. was still using them...which was in the part of the TARDIS where he had been _during _his tenure. What was worse was that was where the kids stored it...in the old console room he'd had back then...where the other clown suit had still been stored...they simply swapped them out.

To the children, it was just a place to hide the nifty stuff they had changed so utterly, from the clothes formerly worn by their First body, all the way to Seventh...and in Ten's case, Nine...he was fairly certain that the Warrior version wasn't going to be amused. He mentioned this to Seventh...just as they all heard a rant getting closer...from the direction of the old console room he'd used during the war.

Eight also entered, moaning a bit at the state of his cravats.

"Nailed you, did they?"

"_Every_ single cravat...and you really don't want to know what they did to my waistcoat." He sighed, shaking his head.

"Who are these knaves?" Second wanted to know, his waistcoat having had the color removed and then treated with dye as well as the rest of his outfit. He _wasn_'t happy...and for once, he and Third were in solid agreement. _That _was the scary part, really..._those_ two himselves finding solid, common ground like that.

"Our _children_, Second. Adopted, but still our children...as in, Children adopted by his and my versions." Ten sighed. "Which is why they're always into some form of mischief, of course. Oh, yes...and our wife is on board...we are both the Doctor, but from slightly different universes...so we can co-exist."

"We use both versions of our TARDIS by turns, the kids live on both as does our wife, Rose and our mother in law." Eight added.

_"Mother in law?"_

"Yes, her name is Jackie."

"You...you're...bless me! You've domesticated us!" Second yelped.

"Yes, I'm afraid so."

The younger self stared at him in shock, unsure whether the changes to his signature outfit in the Sixth body was the worst news or the new information that he had his _family _on-board. He turned, a bit frightened honestly, to Third. "What do we do now?"

"I have no idea, me. Not at all." He glared at their elder selves. "_Domesticated_?"

"Yes. And very human, on top of that, human plus, actually, since Rose isn't aging, but still."

"Dear me." Seven interrupted to look around, "Where's Ace?"

"With Jackie...and if I were you, this would terrify you as much as it does us...they're getting along like houses." The grumbling War Doctor informed them as he walked past with Rose. "At least I know where Bad Wolf got that delightful template from." He was interrupted by the sound of a trio of opening doors from the most newly arriving versions of his TARDIS.

"Bad Wolf? What the devil?" Yelped Eleven, Donna at his side. "You lot aren't supposed to know about that yet!"

"Too right." Twelve sighed, Amy and Rory standing just a bit to one side of him. "What a _mess_."

"That's certainly _one_ word for it. We've both got a version of Clara on board, Twelve." Thirteen paused, looked behind him. "No, seriously, stay in there, we don't need Reapers taking over the shop, Clara."

"No it's okay, I don't know who you're talking about. I've got the Ponds with me, just now."

"Oh, well...in that case, come on out then." Thirteenth told his young friend. "This me doesn't know you yet."

"Of course you do, just not linearly. I was still _fixing _you back when you just had the Ponds."

"True."

All of the Doctors stared at Clara. "Okay, lads, there's another lady that keeps us out of trouble...and that makes one for everyone, plus the wife." First told them. "And Susan's gone off somewhere with Barbara and Ian, as well.

"Wife?" Thirteenth asked. "_What_ wife?

"Well...it's like this..." Nine started hesitantly explaining why they weren't on the old timeline at all, but rather, instead, on the new one made so that a little girl and several boxes of DVDs didn't decide What Was To Be.

* * *

><p>"So, since we were each taken out of a different universe," Thirteenth finished, "Each and every single one of us originated in a different timeline from the rest of the rest of us...do I have that right? Because that's how you set up the pattern?"<p>

"Well, yes." Eight confirmed. "It means none of us are alone in our heads, subject to Gallifrey or unmarried...and it means we'll all be co-parenting the kids...at the same time."

"Oh. Dear...it also means, me...that all of our companions are _all_ current...all at the same time. We should probably separate them." Fourth pointed out.

Rose had been leading the kids back toward the showers, covered in mud...and she paused. "Too late. The TARDIS decided to combine all her parts and said something about having enough pilots for once...and a full ship's compliment for the first time in your lives. She's so happy she's nearly giddy, can't you hear her? She loves being this full."

Thirteen slack-jawed faces raised to the ceiling, listening to the happy burbling giggles given off by the ship...

"We're in _so_ much trouble." Thirteen told First.

"Yup." Eleven's Clone told them from the hallway door. "When she said full compliment, she meant _all _of us, lads. She grabbed the version of Sarah Jane that _I _married."

Fifth stared at himselves helplessly and finally just sank to his butt on the floor of the pool area, letting his shoes and lower breeches sink into the pool while he tried to wrap his mind around this new reality and allowed himself the luxury of having hysterics, it wasn't as if there weren't enough of him to handle emergencies, after all...every head turned when he lost it, maniacal giggles breaking loose until he rolled into the pool and had to be fished out.

"Children and dye are a _dangerous _combination, Mes." Eight told them solemnly. "Just look what's happened to us."

"You? Just think of the poor universe, all of you together like this all the time." Jackie corrected as she entered the area. "No wonder poor Rose wanted help with you lot, but that's alright, you daft thing...I've got this. I've got a new husband to help out, too."

**_"Aw crap."_** Was all Thirteenth said as Jack Harkness stepped forward to say 'Hello'.

* * *

><p><em><strong>~TBC~<strong>_


	7. What the Hell?

_**Variations of Time and Space**_

_**06**_

_**What the Hell?**_

* * *

><p>He stared down at six small faces which blinked up at him, whilst clinging to his suit trouser legs. All of them looked from him to the display of a portable DVD player, from which he could hear his own voice...this him's own voice and realized they were watching a movie...<p>

"What?" He asked, confused as he was he had noted that some of their baggage was moving suspiciously, perhaps a puppy or something?

All six children giggled at him, "Yup, it's him." The youngest of the lot said decisively. "We got the goofy one." She told the others, ignoring his distinctly offended expression, still clinging to his pinstriped trouser-leg. She couldn't have been more than seven, such a tiny little thing...she sure had a good grip, though.

"Cally, Samuel's blankies are moving. I think we woke him up." One of the boys reached over and pushed the _pause_ button on the player, then uncovered the supposed puppy.

**_"WHAT!?"_** He exclaimed, but that didn't stop the Doctor from taking the sleepy infant from it's carrier. "Who lets six human children under eight or nine years old take care of a **_baby?_**" He demanded, cradling the child with more competence than the kids had been expecting.

"Before you fixed the Dalek thing the last time, you was parked in front of our house and mama said to take the box set and this," The oldest girl told him, waving the DVD player and ask the TARDIS to look after us...to foster us herself. NOT you...**_her_**."

"An' then the Daleks shot mama." The littlest of the ones old enough to talk told him, tears dripping down all the children's faces. "

"So big smart ma'am is our foster mother...you're just sort of a..."

"Neighbor."

"_Yah_, that works. Neighbor. A really, really, really, really, really, really, " The child ran out of breath but that was apparently fine...another one continued for him.

"Really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, _**really, really, really, really, really, really, really **_old neighbor."

"Yup. Super old and super creaky and _groaning_ with it."

"But still cool."

"Yah...sort of. I like the next you better, that you is really sweet."

"Yeah, well last him was smarter than this one is." One of the girls pointed out.

"Yeah true...too bad we got the knock off instead of the one which was the real eye-candy." Oldest little girl sighed in disappointment...and he could hear his ship laughing at him.

"Yeah, bet Eight gave out the best snuggles." They wandered out of the console room chattering about his lives and comparing this one, in several cases, unfavorably to others...and literally left the Doctor holding the baby.

* * *

><p><strong>TBC<strong>


	8. Odd Rescues

_**(Short, but cute)**_

_**08**_

_**Variations in Time and Space **_

_**Odd Rescues**_

* * *

><p>Every once in a while, a plain, old, run of the mill rescue turned a bit odd after he got the rescuee safely back to the TARDIS. Take young Roberta here, the Doctor had rescued her from a shipwreck nearly four years ago...and the lass had simply never left. He didn't take Bobbi running, not yet anyway. Bobbi was still a bit too young for that end of things, she was only six, after all. And she never called the Doctor, 'Doctor', for she was a bit of a stubborn little lass. And the Doctor supposed he'd brought it down on his own head by answering to it the first couple times. Which is why he still did, and really, after four years, it <em>was<em> rather pointless to insist at this point, wasn't it?

"Daddy."

"Yes, Bobbi?"

"Can I have a puppy? An Earth one?"

As the 13th Doctor hesitated, he reflected that the combination of long black curls and big blue eyes was certainly _effective_. "Well, yeah, why not? It's your birthday, after all." He sighed. "Get in your seat and put the restraining straps on and we'll go find an Earth pet-shop and let you pick one out, okay?"

"Thank you Daddy."

Oh yeah, he was _certainly _screwed...and decided that while on Earth it might be a good idea to see if he could actually _hire _Clara this time. She _was _a nanny, after all. Not that he was exactly looking forward to seeing her again and even if he was, he'd never admit it.

He set coarse and sighed again, who was he kidding, exactly? It's just that last body, she'd adored him and this one she looked at him and saw grandpa Doctor. Maybe Bobbi could help him knock that down a few years by calling him Daddy as she did. She certainly didn't see 'grandpa'. "All set? Buckles fastened?" He went over to check anyway, running his fingers through her hair affectionately as he found them done properly. "Good girl, Bobbi."

"Yes, Daddy."

He turned back to the console and sent the timeship to London again, hoping to lure Clara back and if luring failed, hiring would do, to put Bobbi in her care...before they went dog shopping. For that matter, the TARDIS was rapidly running out of shoes and clothing in Bobbi's size...he needed to take her clothes shopping too. Just the thought made him shudder. Maybe he could give Clara money and have her take Bobbi? No, Bobbi was unlikely to go unless he was there. Drat.

"Well, first stop is to see if an old lady-friend of mine will agree to come along and help me out with the things about little girls that confuse your old dad."

"Uh huh." She said, grinning at him. Oh, yeah, that was trouble looking to land somewhere, _probably on him_.

* * *

><p><em><strong>~*~Teaser~*~<strong>_


End file.
